BOLDMEMBER

Jimmy Gomez

Jimmy Gomez was elected to the California State Assembly in 2012 and reelected in 2014 and most recently in 2016 with over 86 percent of the vote to represent California’s 51st Assembly District, which includes Northeast Los Angeles and unincorporated East Los Angeles.

In the Assembly, Jimmy is a national champion on Paid Family Leave. He authored and passed landmark legislation, Assembly Bill 908, the nation’s most progressive expansion of Paid Family Leave that President Obama hailed as a model for Congress. The legislation expanded California’s Paid Family Leave program to work for all who pay into it and allow those on the lowest rungs of the state’s economic ladder to afford the very program they help to fund.

Jimmy also authored legislation to address public health, environmental justice, water conservation, access to education, domestic violence and sexual assault prevention, campaign finance disclosure in the wake of Citizens United, LGBTQ rights and affordable housing. In only his second term, Jimmy served as Chair of the powerful Assembly Appropriations Committee.

Jimmy received the Champion of Choice Award from Planned Parenthood in 2015 and the Green Leadership Award for “bold environmental leadership” from Green California, a coalition of over 100 environmental organizations.

Jimmy was born and raised in Southern California and is the youngest of six children. His parents and four of his siblings immigrated to California from Mexico in the early 1970’s. They brought with them a strong sense of family and a strong work ethic. To make ends meet, his mother and father often worked multiple jobs.

His parent’s struggle to care for their family while trying to provide in times of illness and emergency, was the inspiration behind Jimmy’s Paid Family Leave legislation. Strengthening families by improving access to education and healthcare and protecting the rights of workers has been a driving force behind many of Jimmy’s legislative efforts.

After graduating from high school, Jimmy found work where he could – at a fast-food restaurant and a local superstore working from 5pm to 9am. After months of working both jobs, and with the memory of his parent’s struggle to make ends meet, he clearly understood the need for a good job with benefits, and most importantly a quality education.

With this newfound clarity, he enrolled in community college and ultimately transferred to UCLA, where he graduated magna cum laude and later earned a Master’s in Public Policy from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. Jimmy’s recognizes that his story today, although not unique, is a lot harder to achieve and out of reach for far too many.

Prior to serving in the State Assembly, Jimmy served as Political Director of the United Nurses Association of California and brings with him over a decade of experience in local, state and national politics, including the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), National League of Cities, Democratic National Committee, office of former L.A. City Councilman Michael Feuer, and the office of former Congresswoman Hilda Solis.